Happy 2013 RIP Birthday to Robert Kennedy

by Robert Wilkinson

Even if it's not that happy an occasion, since when RFK was assassinated America lost a true champion for human rights.

The life and death of Robert Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968) is a story of legend. Born a child of privilege to one of the most powerful families on Earth, he rose to power as his brother’s Attorney General, where he earned the everlasting hatred of Jimmy Hoffa and mobsters across the country. After his brother’s assassination, he went through serious soul searching and came out the other end as a champion for justice, human rights, and a better America. And then he was shot by a weasel in a hotel kitchen during a last minute change in exit plans.

I found this piece I posted as part of an article on present day racism in America a long time ago. I thought it bears re-publishing today.

In 1968 at the University of Kansas, Robert Kennedy gave an amazing, perceptive speech that even today can help us set our course instead of merely drifting toward the next event.

RFK said we must, "confront the poverty of satisfaction - purpose and dignity - that afflicts us all. Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things."

He continued on and spoke of our Gross National Product,

… that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl.

It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts ... the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials.

It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans."

In it you'll find a few quotes, a few insights, and a link to one incredible song. RIP Bobby. A man of wealth and privilege, you found your conscience and became one of the best of all time. America is poorer for your assassination.